While police killed in the line of duty have declined in the past couple of years, the outlook is grim for 2014. From January to June, 59 officers died, compared to 53 in 2013 and 49 in 2012 for the same time period, according to statistics from the Officer Down Memorial Page.

In the past 10 years, officers killed in the line of duty peaked in 2007 with 203 for the year. There was a sharp decline from 2011 (180 deaths) to 2012 (125 deaths).

Violent crime rates have been falling in the U.S. for years. Another contributing factor might be reduced police forces for some places. For example, New York had 14 police officer deaths in 2008 and 6 in 2013; at the same time, the number of people working as police officers or detectives declined by more than 5,000 in the state, according to Labor Department statistics. However, 25 states saw an increase in number of police and sheriff’s officers from 2008 to 2013.

The most populous states had the most deaths, with Texas, New York and California topping the list, according to the data. When taking population into account, Alaska was the most dangerous state for a police officer with 5.16 deaths per 1,000 police officers from 2008 to 2013. Arkansas follows with 3.26 per thousand officers, and Montana is third with 2.85 per thousand. Vermont is the safest state for an officer. Vermont saw no officer deaths between 2008 and 2013. Rhode Island follows with only one death since 2008, and Connecticut had four total police deaths since 2008.

The leading cause of deaths of officers in the line of duty is gunfire, which accounted for almost 550 deaths between 2004 and 2014, according to Officer Down Memorial Page. Auto accidents were the second leading cause with 364 deaths between 2004 and 2014.

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The Wall Street Journal examines numbers in the news, business and politics. Some numbers are flat-out wrong or biased, while others are valid and help us make informed decisions. We tell the stories behind the stats in occasional updates on this blog.